Jeopardy! saw a revolving door of hosts for a while, but one thing remained constant: contestants on a winning streak and securing their place as one of the game’s greatest players of all time. Mattea Roach is another incredibly talented participant who won more than few times in a row. Her winning streak reached 23 games!
Mattea Roach – Jeopardy Genius
Jeopardy! has already welcomed several winners into its team. Right when Amy Schneider and Matt Amodio finished and celebrated their runs of the game, Mattea Roach joined the lucky Jeopardy! guests. Roach, a 23-year-old tutor finished her Jeopardy! winning streak after 23 games, winning a total of $560, 983. The guest is in the Top Ten all-time for consecutive games won now, and she has the highest non-tournament cash winning. Moreover, she is from Toronto, Ontario – the winner is the best Canadian player of all time. That said, the previous host, the late Alex Trebek, is also an Ontario citizen. He would probably be very proud to learn how outstanding Roach is in Jeopardy! The host, who passed away from cancer in 2020, used to talk about his love for Canada a lot.
Of course, Roach deserves her success. The 23-year-old answered 93% of the clues correctly and got a total of 23 wins in consecutive games. That put her on fifth place on the consecutive game leaderboard! In the last game, Roach collected $15, 599 but was defeated by a dollar by Danielle Maurier, who won $15, 600. Nevertheless, in the list of all-time regular season winnings, Roach is in the top five.
Crazy Season
Other Jeopardy! players of note is the ninth placer Austin Rogers. He’s famous for several things on Jeopardy! – and one of them is being one of the best players. Another one is making Alex Trebek say “dick tree.” His total wins amount to $411,000. Other memorable contestants in the top ten include Matt Amodio and current Jeopardy! host Ken Jennings.
At first, Roach had no idea she’d go on a long streak. She was also scared of facing other impressive contestants like Schneider. “This has been such a crazy season of streaks and I was fully thinking Amy [Schneider] might still be here,” she said. “If it’s not Amy, there’s going to be some other super-champion that’s just going to knock me out Game One. I guess what I didn’t realize is maybe I could become the super-champion I wanted to see in the world.”
Just a few months have gone by after Schneider had her 40th successful game. Who knows, maybe the two will meet at some point. The Tournament of Champions can determine their fate, too. “I am genuinely having so much fun,” Roach explained. “I’ve told that to everyone that I’ve played against before every game. Like, have fun up there. You’ll play better and this is a once in a lifetime experience. Why would you not want to have fun?” Ken Jennings is waiting for both of them on top with 74 consecutive games won and a sum of $2,520,700.
The Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions will air in the fall of 2022.
Sources: Cinema Blend, EW, Salon, Today, Variety